Bags, Babies, Butterflies, and Bufo

White-Black-Yellow explores the bag.

Today I ran a few exploration-avoidance tests. This is to see the how an animal reacts to different novel situations -- objects, food, etc. Even a baited trap might be used to see how quickly an animal approaches, how long the object is investigated, and if they will enter it. Lizards that previously tested shyer than others did not avoid the experience of the blue bag. In other words, shy animals may not predictably avoid new experiences.

Hatchling C. similis.

Really tiny!

Hatchling C. similis are around. I startled this one into the dining hall where I managed to catch him. Very young, the yolk sack not completely closed. Snout-to-vent length measured 54.91mm. Far too small to bead!

Swallowtail Butterfly

After two rains I'm seeing many more butterflies of all kinds, just don't ask me to ID them! C. similis is omnivorous and today younger animals were actively hunting low flying insects -- too fast to photograph. And an adult iguana ate a bat today -- photographed by park tourists. It seemed likely the iguana knew the location of the bats and had accomplished this feat before.

Bufo luetkenii female...

...and much smaller, differently colored male.

There are 3 young women from Nicaragua here working on scholarship, collecting and measuring amphibians along a pitfall trap line. Toads are pretty swell.